!Did they move the ships?
 --- 
agk's diary 
31 October 2025
 --- 
written on GPD MicroPC
in bed before a long workday passing meds
 --- 
Three days ago there were a half dozen US Navy ships
parked in blue water off the coast of Venezuela,
including the wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS
Iwo Jima and a sub. The ships were leeward of the
Lesser Antilles, except for a couple US Coast Guard
cutters north of Puerto Rico. Onboard were a couple
thousand US Marines.

Word was they'd escalate from sniping fastboats to
launching tomahawk cruise missiles today. Nobody
thought this was a good idea after Secretary of
Defense Hegseth gathered the military brass to
insult them two weeks ago, government shutdown means
sailors and marines aren't getting paid and their
familes aren't getting food stamps or daycare, and
we're in the era of high quality active denial air
defense, which Venezuela definitely has.

Then Hurricane Melissa scooby-dooed right through
where all those Navy ships were two days ago. The 
biggest storm of the year, it beat up Jamaica so bad
there's no telecommunications infrastructure to
report how bad it was, just satellite pics and an
intrepid BBC team. Eight hundred sailors evacuated
Guantanamo Bay base on Cuba for Florida. A Navy
friend told me "essential" sailors who had to stay
on station "bunkered the f--- down."

I've only been on the Gulf when a hurricane was on
another part of it, far enough away our skies were
blue. Running the breakers in a 20-foot center
console boat made my life flash before my eyes. On
blue water the swells were just as high, but weren't
lateral. The Gulf's a bathtub.

Did Navy leave the ships in place? Did they run
north, in advance of the storm? Did they get out of
the Gulf? Were there losses or equipment failures?
Is the immanent unprovoked attack on Venezuela still
on? I'd love to know any puzzle pieces.

UPDATE: Instead of looking for news, I looked up AIS
beacon maps.

Tomahawk strike package (32 missiles/ship):

* Lake Erie (CG-70): In Panama Canal en route to
   west  coast
* Stockdale (DDG-106): S of Puerto Rico, E at 12kn
* Gravely (DDG-107): Left theater, docked in Newport
   News
* Jason Dunham (DDG-109): S of P Rico, S at 14kn

Expeditionary package (1700+ marines):

* Iwo Jima (LHD-7): Leaving port in Charlotte, E of
   Puerto Rico, SE at 8kn
* San Antonio (LPD-17): Just S of P Rico, S at 15kn
* Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28): In port in Jackson FL

So, not counting the sub (12 Tomahawks) and the
special operations drone/helo mothership MV Ocean
Trader, half of the strike package and a third of
the expeditionary package skedaddled.